Protein–Polyphenol Networks: From Fundamentals to Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Naturally occurring building blocks have attracted scientific interest for the assembly of functional materials due to their intrinsic biocompatibility and biodegradability. Proteins are a particularly crucial class of functional biomacromolecules involved in most fundamental processes of living organisms that can be assembled into nanomaterials for various biomedical applications. Another ubiquitous class of biomacromolecules are polyphenols, which have traditionally been referred to as “vegetable tannins”, have recently been employed in engineering advanced materials, owing to their available physicochemical and biological properties and capability of assembly through diverse interactions...